In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Sink More Putts By Being Aggressive
2) Hitting The Flop Shot When You Must
3) Question of the Week – Keeping The Left Arm Straight
4) Article – Five Deadly Sins Of Buying Equipment
5) Article – Five Shots That Will Transform Your Game

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1) Sink More Putts By Being Aggressive
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If you watch the pros putt long enough, you’ll notice their putting and playing styles often match. Take Aaron Baddeley. He reveals his personality in his putting style. Aaron is naturally aggressive. He makes quick decisions. He walks quickly. And he has an up-tempo swing. He also has a snappy putting style, which may be one reason he’s so successful on the greens.

Five advantages to an aggressive putting style:

1. Helps eliminate negative thoughts
2. Enhances ballstriking
3. Assures a confident stroke
4. Gives the ball a chance to go in
5. Contributes to consistency

Baddeley doesn’t take long to putt. Once he grounds his putter, he takes one last look at his line, then putts. You can count four from the time he grounds the putter to the time he strokes the ball. He follows this routine every time.

Aaron’s routine has advantages. It eliminates time for negative thoughts to creep in. It helps him hit the ball solidly on the intended line. It guarantees the ball is always struck confidently. It builds consistency, since he does the same thing every time. And it gives the ball a chance to go in on every putt, since he seldom leaves a putt short.

Of course, there are times when Aaron putts too quickly. But so far, his style seems to be working well for him. One of the tour’s young guns, he’s considered one of the game’s best putters.

Another tip you may want to keep in mind is to match your putter with your stroke. Use a straight back-and-through stroke with a face-balanced putter. But use a more arcing stroke with a heel-shafted model.

Aaron’s quick-count putting style isn’t for everyone. But if you’re putting isn’t what you want it to be, try copying his. You may be surprised how well it works.

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2) Hitting The Flop Shot When You Must
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Your ball stops in front of a deep greenside bunker. The green is elevated about 10 feet above your ball. The pin is close to the green’s edge. The putting surface slopes away from the hole. You need a high spinning shot that carries the bunker, but lands softly by the pin and stops quickly. You need a flop shot.

Below are five keys to hitting a flop shop

* Stand taller and closer to ball
* Open the clubface wide
* Use a weaker grip than normal
* Hinge the wrists on the backswing
* Accelerate through the ball

You’d be surprised how many good players can’t hit a flop shot. But that’s no reason why you shouldn’t. It’s a good shot to have in your arsenal.

A well executed flop shot requires four things—a big swing to get the ball up in the air, an open clubface at address so the club doesn’t dig in, and a proper swing plane angle to assure proper ball/turf contact, as well as correctly hinged wrists to hit the bottom of the ball.

But the key to this shot is the setup. Two tips to help with getting the set up right are stand taller and closer to the ball and open the clubface first, then grip the club. Standing taller and closer creates the proper angle of approach to the ball. Opening the clubface first guarantees an open clubface at impact.

It sounds easy. But poor execution isn’t uncommon. So be careful. Make sure you have a lie that lets you get under the ball and that you take a practice swing. Both help in executing the shot the way you want.

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3) Question of the Week – Keeping The Left Arm Straight
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Q. Hi Jack, How do you keep you left arm straight when using your driver? I hit my driver okay by reducing my backswing but have the tendency now and then to over swing causing my arm to bend.

Regards,
James

A. Thanks, James. A good way to remember to keep your left arm straight (right arm for left-handers) is to visualize a friend or playing partner standing well behind you on the tee. Then imagine trying to touch that person with your driver on the way up and back down. Also, at the top, your left arm should be comfortably straight, not rigid. This visualization will help you achieve good width on your backswing.

Another tip on achieving good backswing width is to get your right elbow (left elbow for left-handers) to work in such a way that as it folds, it forms a right angle —or “L” shape at the top of your swing.

The Split Hands drill is a good way to train your self to achieve a proper backswing. Split your hands a few inches apart on a grip. Then swing the club back and push your right arm away to form a 90-degree angle at the elbow. That’s the backswing your want. Once you get the feel for this backswing, go back to your regular grip. But try to remember how the backswing felt during the drill.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

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If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article – Five Deadly Sins Of Buying Equipment
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-deadly-sins-of-buying-equipment.php

5) Article – Five Shots That Will Transform Your Game
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/five-shots-that-will-transform-your-game.php

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

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About the Author
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Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

Learning to control trajectory is a powerful, stroke-saving skill. It can get you out of many trouble spots when you need to the most, like when you need to punch out from a clump of trees. It even leaves you with an easily makeable putt when pitching to the green. Controlling trajectory can turn two, or even three, strokes into one. More importantly, it can help cut strokes from your golf handicap.

Your club has two lofts—as students often learn in golf lessons. One is the “built-in” loft. It’s created by the clubface’s angle when the shaft is perpendicular to the ground. This is the loft the club was designed with. The other loft is the club’s “effective” loft. This is the loft created at impact. Thus, you can use the same club to generate high or low shots—but only if you can control the loft. If you hit the ball consistently high or low, take a golf tip from me: Learn to change directories. Sooner or later, you’ll need one of those shots.

Here’s how to change shot trajectories:

Low Trajectory
Every golfer should learn to hit a shot with low trajectory. It’s ideal on tight lies or bare dirt. It’s also ideal when buried in rough, punching out from the trees, or in a strong wind. It offers minimal risk. Even bad shots can turn out okay because the ball keeps rolling. With this shot, the ball has more backspin than normal, so you can learn to make it stop short on some shots. This type of shot is often taught in golf instruction sessions.

Start by positioning the ball back, in line with your back ear. Your hands should be close to your front thigh. If right-handed, that’s your left thigh. If left-handed, that’s your right thigh. Your hands should be in front of the ball not only at set-up but also at impact. Your weight should be leaning forward. This set-up insures a downward blow, causing the club to pinch the ball against the dirt.

Medium Trajectory
This is the least used trajectory. It’s ideal for medium to light rough, normal fairway conditions, and if there’s no obstacle to go over. It offers minimal to moderate risk. It’s not nearly as easy to make solid contact with this shot as it is when hitting a low trajectory shot. The swing is more like a sweeping motion.

Position the ball in the middle of your stance, in line with your belt buckle. Keep your hands under your belt buckle, but leaning slightly forward. Lean the shaft forward a bit, which helps promote solid contact. Distribute your weight evenly over booth feet, instead of favoring your front foot. With this swing, you’ll still hit down on the ball but take less divot, unlike the trapping feel of the low trajectory shot.

High Trajectory
Often taught in golf lessons, this shot requires a lot of practice. But it’s a great tool. Use it when the ball is resting on a cushion of grass, when you need altitude quickly. The risk here is high. There’s not much room for error here. It’s not always easy to slide the club under the ball while leaning the shaft back.

Position the ball forward, in line with the left ear. Place the hands slightly back of center. Be careful. If the hands are too far back, you risk hitting a low, skulled shot.. Your weight should be slightly open. Aim left of the target, if you’re right-handed. Aim right of target, if you’re left-handed. Open the clubface as well. The lie is critical with this shot. Don’t fall in love with this shot. It can cost you strokes, as I tell students in my golf instruction sessions, if you mis hit it too often.

Confidence in hitting shots with different trajectories is crucial. So practice the shots described above until you’ve mastered them. The effort will pay off. Learning to control the trajectory of your shots leaves you in good position to hit your next shot and saves strokes. If you’re serious about whittling strokes from your golf handicap, learn to control trajectory. Knowing how to control shot trajectory is a powerful weapon.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.

Golfers are always looking for ways to improve. Adding weight to a golf club is a time- tested way to do it. The extra weight usually comes in the form of lead tape. The concept behind this method is simple. When applied properly, lead tape adds extra weight behind the sweet spot. The weight provides extra distance with woods and irons. Lead tape also helps square the clubface at impact. But you have to apply the lead tape to the right spots for the method to work. Otherwise, it leads to bad shots, adding strokes to your golf handicap.

Adding lead tape to a club isn’t a new golf tip. It’s been way to add weight to a club for many years. But it’s not used as much as it was in the past. In fact, the topic is seldom mentioned in golf instruction sessions. That’s because today’s manufacturers build clubs with weighted sweet spots already. So there’s no need to add lead tape. You just need to learn how to hit the club. But using and older set of clubs or if you’re looking to gain some extra distance, adding lead tape to your clubs may help. If this is the case, it’s easy to do.

Benefits of Lead Tape
Players with low golf handicaps tend to use lead tape more than players with golf handicaps. By adding tape to the club’s back, you can alter how the clubface squares to the ball at impact. How the club squares at impact decides how much the ball curves near the end of its flight. You can also add tape also increase the height of your shots. Some players use lead tape to fix that one club that just doesn’t feel right.

The key is to make sure you place the lead correctly on the back of the club so that you get the optimum benefit from it. For example, a driver’s center of gravity is typically located toward the back of the clubhead, down low and slightly toward the toe, which is where you want to add the tape to launch the ball higher. To raise the trajectory of your irons, apply a few strips to the base of the club’s back. Start by adding a couple of one- inch strips, and monitor the effects.

To enhance a draw or reduce a fade, add tape to the club’s heel. Adding weight there helps the clubface rotate through impact. The larger the club head, the harder it is to square at impact. That’s why many of today’s oversized clubheads feature extra heel weighting. Conversely, adding lead tape to your driver’s toe helps reduce draw spin, providing a straighter shot.

Lead tape is available in rolls from golf retailers or golf Web sites. If you buy it in roll form, simply cut the piece you need and stick it to club head. You can also buy it in strips properly sized for use on golf clubs. One strip weighs from .7 to 1.5 grams. Some players even use lead tape on their putters, especially if they tend to leave putts short. Adding lead tape gives putts an extra bit of weight that will take it to the hole.

Of course, some feel using lead tape is unfair. It now only alters a club’s specifications, it also adds something to the club it doesn’t really have. Some players don’t mind a golfer using it practice or when taking golf lessons, but frown upon it in play. They consider it cheating. Ultimately, the question is whether the lead tape is really necessary. Why not use the club is. If you lack distance, improve your swing or ballstriking.

You may have read golf tips in sports magazines that advocate using lead tape on your clubs to help control your shots. Lead tape isn’t a cure-all. It won’t straighten out a bad slice or a wicked draw. But players with low golf handicaps who hit shots that start straight then cure slightly at the end can use it to refine their ball flights. That in turn will help cut strokes from your golf handicap.

Deciding if your ball is lost is easy. You can’t find it. Deciding what to do about it, on the other hand, isn’t so easy. It’s a complex decision more critical than many golfers think. Choose wrong and it can hurt. It may not cost you strokes on your golf handicap, but if you’re playing in a match or a tournament, you could lose the hole, the match, or the tournament. So make sure you clearly understand the rule and its effects.

Few golf instructions sessions cover golf rules. But you can brush up on them by reading the USGA rulebook. Here’s what it says on lost balls: USGA Rule 27—Ball Lost or Out of Bounds; Provisional Ball—governs lost balls. Unfortunately, to fully understand this rule, you may also have to refer to USGA Rules 14, 20, 25, 26, and 28. And even then you may not clearly understand all the rule’s ramifications.

Stroke & Distance Violation
A lost ball is a stroke and distance violation. If you know your ball is lost or has gone out of bounds, you must hit a ball from the same spot and take a stroke. From the tee you can tee it up again. Through the green you can drop within one club length and from the putting surface you can place it. Of course, it you hit your ball out of bounds from the green, think seriously about taking golf lessons or reading more golf tips.

The USGA gives you five minutes to find your ball. If you can’t find it after that time, the ball is lost. If you find it after five minutes and five seconds, the ball is still lost. Playing the ball costs you two strokes. In addition, you have to go back to where you first played the ball, take another stroke, and hit again.

That’s straightforward and easily understandable. But a problem occurs when you don’t know if your ball is lost. In deciding if it is, you must consider where it’s lost. Is it lost in water or a regular hazard, in ground under repair, on or in a moveable or immoveable obstruction, or if a squirrel scampered off with it. These circumstances are covered under a different USGA Rule.

Provisional Ball Option
If you think your ball is lost or out of bounds, you can hit a provisional ball. Provisional means temporary or conditional. This is your ball until and/or unless you find your original ball. Before hitting, you must declare your intention to play a provisional ball. Fail to do so and your provisional becomes your ball, even if you find the original ball.

You can continue to play the provisional ball up to where your first ball was lost. If you play your ball from this point on or a point nearer the hole, your first ball is considered lost. You hole out with the provisional ball—and the penalty.

If your ball is lost in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, however, you must proceed under USGA Rule 26-1. Under this rule it’s to your advantage if the ball is lost in a water hazard because you don’t have to observe the rule’s distance penalty. The stroke penalty, however, is still in effect.

Abnormal Ground Conditions
Distance and stroke penalties are avoided, if there’s evidence that your ball is lost in abnormal ground conditions. In that case drop the ball within a club length of the point where the ball entered the hazard and hit. If a squirrel or other “outside agency” makes off with your ball, you can invoke USGA Rule 18-1 Ball Moved by Outside Agency. No penalty incurs.

By now your head is probably spinning. A lost ball does that to you. But if you play competitively, have a clear idea of what the rule says and how it’s applied. If you don’t, find out. Read the USGA rulebook, take golf lessons on them, or study golf tips explaining them. Knowing the rules won’t cut your golf handicap, but it can save the hole and/or help win a match. Playing by the rules also makes the game more challenging.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.